As much as we’d like to have a quick and simple answer, the reality is, just like building something like a house, the answer varies greatly due to a number of factors.
Let’s take an in-depth look at what drives video production costs in 2021.
Here’s what we’ll cover below:
- What Drives Video Production Costs
- How to decide on a video production budget?
- Determine Your Projects Budget
- What Happens Next
- Real Numbers
What Drives Cost and Why Can’t you provide an accurate online price list?
Every video is different, with different requirements, different goals, different lengths, added post-production special effects or not, actors or no actors, lots of animation or none, travel, shooting throughout a Sunday night, the list goes on and on and on.
At the end of the day, TIME is the biggest driver of video production cost. You want more visual effects and animation, well that takes a lot of time hence the cost will go up. You want to shoot at 3 versus 1 of your retail stores, well that’s travel, setup, and film time at each location plus the time involved in editing the additional footage.
Want actors or a studio space involved? well, they have to be compensated based on their time.
When video production firms are planning their costs for a project, time is the most important aspect that needs to be correctly estimated.
Many production expenses are on a half-day, but more commonly a daily rate.
In short, the more involved and complicated a video is, the more costly it was to create, as a more complex video requires more people involved and more time from everyone.
How to Decide on Your Video Production
We get asked fairly often “ well how much should I be spending on production?” Again the answer varies heavily depending on your business, industry, current marketing plan, and marketing goals.
Marketing Goals & Type of Video
The more crucial first step to determining how much your video production project will cost is first deciding what your goals are. There are many types of video production each with a different goal, audience, or marketing channel in mind. The most basic example is that the goals of a national Ford commercial are very different than the goals of a video project a local furniture moving company is creating.
Decide what you want to do with your video, and if you’re not sure, that’s ok, any marketing or video production should work hand in hand with you to best determine how to maximize your video production ROI.
For example, if you are a small e-commerce firm, creating a video or series of videos that can be used on your website, social media platforms, and in digital/email ads would be a very effective tool to maximize not only your video budget will be but also act a multiplier on the effectiveness of your other marketing spend as using videos in digital and social media ads will heavily increase the CTR rates. Our Knoxville, TN video production services are for example commonly used in a combination of explainer videos, broadcast television videos, and digital marketing videos.
Careful planning is also important to make sure everyone is on the same page as to what the look, and feel of the video are. It’s not always easy to translate what someone is visualizing into a finished product, hence lots of communication and planning is needed to make sure the client’s vision for the project is realized.
Current Marketing Spend
What are you currently spending on your marketing? What is your current spend on media, more clearly, how much are you spending to put your brand in front of an audience?
This is generally the sum of tv media buys, radio buys, digital- including PPC on AdWords and social media and any other paid media. The common rule of thumb used to be that 20% of this budget should be allocated to video production/ media production and 80% towards the actual media buy. This number varies across industries and companies but generally ranges from 15-30% with 20% as a very solid rule of thumb.
While some might argue the production budget should be lowered, no evidence supports this. Keep in mind, the media your company is showing to people represents your brand. You want it to be quality content that you can be proud of. What’s the point in showing 20% more people a much worse commercial, if that crappy commercial won’t generate action and it makes your brand look unprofessional.
This article, makes a great point, using the example of wouldn’t you rather show your media less but have Tom Cruise in the commercial. If you’re a national brand, the answer is likely yes. Just think about Lincoln and their campaign with Matthew Mcconhau, adding the famous actor to the marketing drastically increased costs, BUT nearly everyone who sees those commercials at least stop to look at them and remembers them.
Of course, there are diminishing returns when it comes to increasing your production budget in relation to media spend, but brands are spending a greater percentage than ever before on production to maximize the effectiveness of the media buys they are placing. As a whole, this increases overall ROI across the campaign.
For traditional video production and media outlets, the 20% rule is an effective rule of thumb.
How to determine video production costs in 2021
As we mentioned above, the first step should always be to carefully analyze your current marketing plan and budget, then think in detail about what you want to achieve with a video project.
The more clearly you can communicate your goal and vision the more accurate the better the final product will be
We can help guide you on many of these areas, but the more you know the better.
Here’s a typical list of points we will go over with a client before creating a project proposal:
The goal of the project
As we mentioned above, the first step should always be to carefully analyze your current marketing plan and budget, then think in detail about what you want to achieve with a video project. The more we understand what you want to achieve with the video and why you are making it, the better we can help you reach those goals. Ask yourself who will be watching it, why they will be watching it, what you want their “take away “ to be. Do you want them to apply for a job, associate your brand with something, or go to your online store and buy a product? There’s isn’t a wrong answer here!
Marketing Channel
Where will the video run? Mostly on regional/local TV or do you plan to use it more in digital ads? Or both? Often a video is created and then used in a variety of channels with various edits specifically made for each channel.
Length of Video
How long do you want the video to be? If it’s running on a broadcast or cable tv, it will need to be either 15, 30, or 60 seconds. 95% or more of all our broadcast tv spots are 30 seconds.
For web content, the length can be whatever you want it to be, but often keeping it shorter rather than longer focuses the content and keeps the audience engaged better.
Often we cut a longer version for use on digital mediums then run a tighter cut version for broadcast tv and cable tv.
Video Style and Content
Do you want something live-action or animated? Do you want it shot at your office or various locations? Do you want actors in it? Is there a specific type of music you want? Do you want a voice-over?
While we will have suggestions and will craft a creative vision based on your goals, if you know you want specific elements in the video, tell us!
Example Content
Often clients will have found one or more videos they like and want to use certain aspects of them as inspiration. This is great! The more we understand what you are visualizing the better.
Do you know your budget?
If you have a specific budget or budget range in mind, tell us, that way we can work to achieve the best looking product possible given any budget constraints. When we know your budget, we’ll be able to make better-informed suggestions for getting the best product made at a specific budget level.
What happens next?
After our initial consultation where we ask you the above questions and talk through the details of your project, we’ll create a project proposal that details the project requirements as well as lays out a path forward and a potential timeline. Often we provide a few production solutions that the client can pick from each with slightly different price points or content.
Real Numbers
You might be thinking “why have you not mentioned any real numbers?”, and the answer is that we are about to BUT … Each project is so different that any price range will be a very wide range without knowing more about a specific production.
Here are some industry averages we’ve seen across many production companies.
Low-End Videos: Anywhere between $3,000-6,000
Typically short, with few frills, no travel, actors, etc. “Barebones” would be an appropriate description.
Average Tennessee Video Production Price 2021: $8,000-$25,000
This is a larger range and typical of many local and regional businesses. It fluctuates so much due to the above reasons, but often live-action and animated videos used for a variety of purposes fit into this space.
The most basic 360 and VR videos sometimes fall into this price range.
Premium Video Production Costs: $25,000- $???,???
Premium high-end video productions take the production value to the next level, and with an infinite number of choices and options, the price range varies significantly.
Generally 360 and VR content also falls within this pricing category as the sheer amount of editing and time involved in creating VR content. Think trade show VR videos, etc.
Also, nearly any national or multi-regional broadcast tv production will be in this category especially where media rights, union labor, and actors’ licensing are involved.
Have questions about your next video project or need help deciding
No matter what agency or production company you decide to work with, they absolutely should be very consultative in their approach to working with you. After all, they are professionals within the industry and produce videos daily. Don’t be scared to ask dumb questions and spend considerable time explaining your goals and talking through your project. Any good video production firm or marketing agency we’ve been around will do everything they can to help guide you to what they believe will truly be the best ROI and solution to your challenge.
Want to talk about your marketing plan or video production project?
CONTACT US via phone, email, zoom, whatever you want!
Our consultations have no obligation and are completely free. We always enjoy learning about different businesses and the challenges you face, we’ll do everything we can to help you realize real ROI on your marketing plan and push your business ahead in 2021.
Volan Media is a top Knoxville, Tennessee video production and marketing agency with years of experience working on a range of projects, everything from 1800s steam railway locomotives to the most cutting edge cancer treatments. If you turn on the tv in East Tennessee, chances are you’ll see one of our ads! We are a top Knoxville, Tennessee video production firm, with projects commonly being used for explainer videos, broadcast/cable tv ads, digital ads, recruitment. Volan Media also is a top Knoxville Tennessee virtual Reality video production firm, having made a large number of 360 videos and VR productions across a range of industries, including various tradeshow VR 360 videos, treatment and branding VR videos, and VR experiences.
